JAPANESE CULTURE AND TRADITIONS

Shochu — Ancient Brewing Methods Yield Unexpected Health Benefits

Japan’s healthiest spirit

Shochu bottles at a Kagoshima restaurant. (©Diane Tincher)

When visitors come to Kagoshima and ask me to recommend a good local sake, I hesitate. While Kagoshima does produce some sake, its true specialty is shochu, which has been distilled here since even before the humble sweet potato arrived in the early 18th century — a crop that would later become a lifesaver and the star ingredient of its premier shochu.

Shochu’s Beginnings

Koriyama Hachiman Shrine’s welcoming torii gate. (©Diane Tincher)

To uncover the origins of shochu’s story, I visited Koriyama Hachiman Shrine in Okuchi Town, located in northern Kagoshima Prefecture. During renovations done in 1954, workers discovered sumi ink writing on the underside of a shingle bearing the date 永正4年, or 1507, leading scholars to conclude that the shrine must have been built before that year.

The shrine’s architecture blends techniques from the Muromachi and Momoyama periods with distinct Ryukyuan influences. In 1949, the main shrine building was designated a National Important Cultural Property. See the beautiful Ryukyu-style pillars…